U.S. patent number 6,561,819 [Application Number 10/253,953] was granted by the patent office on 2003-05-13 for terminals of socket connector.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Chieh-Jung Huang, Ming-Lun Szu.
United States Patent |
6,561,819 |
Huang , et al. |
May 13, 2003 |
Terminals of socket connector
Abstract
A socket connector (1) for electrically connecting a CPU (2) to
a PCB (3) includes an insulative housing (10) and a number of
terminals (11) obliquely received in the insulative housing. The
insulative housing defines a number of slant terminal slot (104)
for receiving corresponding terminals and a number of slant
position slots (105) communicating with the respective terminal
slots. Each of the terminals includes a retention portion (111)
received in a corresponding position slot, a mating portion (113)
extending from a top end of the retention portion and a soldering
portion (112) extending from a bottom end of the retention
portion.
Inventors: |
Huang; Chieh-Jung (Tu-Chen,
TW), Szu; Ming-Lun (Tu-Chen, TW) |
Assignee: |
Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co.,
Ltd. (Taipei Hsien, TW)
|
Family
ID: |
21687855 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/253,953 |
Filed: |
September 23, 2002 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Dec 26, 2001 [TW] |
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90223012 U |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
439/66 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H05K
7/1069 (20130101); H01R 12/52 (20130101); H01R
12/714 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H05K
7/10 (20060101); H01R 012/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;439/66,591,71,83,74,91,862 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
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5324205 |
June 1994 |
Ahmad et al. |
6447304 |
September 2002 |
Korsunsky et al. |
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Primary Examiner: TA; Tho D.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Chung; Wei Te
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A socket connector for electrically connecting a CPU to a PCB,
comprising: an insulative housing defining a plurality of slant
terminal slots; a plurality of terminals obliquely received in
corresponding slant terminal slots, each terminal including a
retention portion, a mating portion extending from a top end of the
retention portion and a soldering portion extending from a bottom
end of the retention portion, the mating portion including a spring
arm and a contacting portion at a top end of the mating portion for
contacting with the CPU, the soldering portion being solderable to
the PCB; wherein the contacting portion is further from the
retention portion than the soldering portion from the retention
portion; wherein the retention portion forms a plurality of barbs
at two opposite lateral sides thereof for engaging with the
insulative housing and securely retaining the terminal in a
corresponding slant terminal slot; wherein the insulative housing
defines a plurality of position slots communicating with
corresponding slant terminal slots for receiving corresponding
retention Portions of the terminals; wherein both said soldering
portion and said contacting portion are laterally offset from the
direction of the corresponding slanted terminals slot.
2. A socket connector comprising: an insulative housing defining
opposite top and bottom surfaces with a plurality of slanted
terminals slots extending therebetween; and a plurality of oblique
terminals received in the corresponding slots, respectively, each
of said terminals including a retention portion with a solder
portion extending downward and a mating portion extending upwardly
therefrom; the solder portion extending beyond the bottom surface
and further extending in a horizontal direction parallel to said
bottom surface for permanently securing to a printed circuit board,
and the mating portion extending above the top surface with at a
distal end thereof a contacting portion adapted to be laterally and
downwardly deflected toward the top surface by an attachable
electronic component; wherein when assembled, at least one of said
solder portion or said deflectable contacting portion is not
located in a position along a direction of the corresponding
slanted terminal slot but laterally offset to confront the bottom
or top surface of the housing in a vertical direction; wherein both
said solder portion and said deflectable contacting portion are
laterally offset from the direction of the corresponding slanted
terminals slot; wherein the contacting portion is further from the
retention portion than the solder portion from the retention
portion.
3. A socket connector comprising: an insulative housing defining
opposite top and bottom surfaces thereof, a plurality of slanted
terminal slots extending through said top and bottom surfaces; a
plurality of terminals compliantly received in the corresponding
terminal slots, respectively, each of the terminals including: a
stationary slanted retention portion fixed in the corresponding
terminal slot; a stationary solder portion extending from a bottom
portion of the retention portion in a horizontal direction parallel
to the bottom surface; and a deflectable cantilever type mating
portion extending from a top portion of the retention portion and
laterally moveable in the corresponding terminal slot with thereof
a contacting portion exposed outside of the top surface while
adapted to be downwardly and laterally pressed toward the top
surface by an attachable electronic component; wherein the
contacting portion is further from the stationary slanted retention
portion than the stationary solder portion from the stationary
slanted retention portion; wherein both said solder portion and
said contacting portion are laterally offset from the direction of
the corresponding slanted terminals slot.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket connector, and
particularly to a socket connector for electrically connecting a
central process unit (CPU) to a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIGS. 6-8, U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,797 discloses a socket
connector 9 for electrically connecting a land grid array (LGA) CPU
8 to a PCB 7. The socket connector 9 includes an insulative housing
91 and a plurality of terminals 92. The insulative housing 91
defines a plurality of terminal slots 911 for receiving the
respective terminals 92. Each of the terminals 92 includes a
retention portion 921, a pair of spring arms 922 extending from
opposite ends of the retention portion 921 and a pair of mating
portions 923 located at free ends of the spring arms 922.
Referring to FIG. 9, the LGA CPU 8 and the PCB 7 are arranged at
two opposite sides of the socket connector 9 and the spring arms
922 of the terminals 92 are in a free state. Referring to FIG. 10,
as the LGA CPU 8 and the PCB 7 move closer toward the socket
connector 9, the mating portions 923 of the terminals 92 contact
with corresponding first contacting pads 81 of the LGA CPU 8 and
corresponding second pads 71 of the PCB 7. The spring arms 922
deflect resiliently in the terminal slots 911. The mating portions
923 press against corresponding pads 81 (71) due to the resilient
force of the spring arms 922 thereby establishing an electrical
connection between the LGA CPU 8 and the PCB 7. However, because
the spring arms 922 extend from two opposite sides of the retention
portion 921, the effective length of an individual spring arm 922
is limited as to be unable to provide sufficient resiliency when
mating.
Hence, an improved socket connector is required to overcome the
disadvantage of the conventional socket connector. U.S. Pat. No.
6,447,304 having the same assignee with the invention, discloses
some approach.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a
socket connector having terminals with good resiliency.
In order to achieve the object set forth, a socket connector for
electrically connecting with a CPU and a PCB includes an insulative
housing and a plurality of terminals slantly received in the
insulative housing. The insulative housing defines a plurality of
slant terminal slots and a plurality of slant position slots
communicating with corresponding terminal slots. Each terminal
includes a retention portion received in a corresponding position
slot, a mating portion extending from a top end of the retention
portion and a soldering portion extending from a bottom end of the
retention portion for contacting with a corresponding contacting
pad of the PCB. The mating portion includes a spring arm and a
contacting portion at a top end of the spring arm for contacting
with a corresponding soldering pad of the CPU. The contacting
portion is much farther from the retention portion than the
soldering portion is. Therefore, the length of spring arm is
relatively long so that the resiliency of the spring arm is
improved.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will
become more apparent from the following detailed description of the
preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a socket connector of the present
invention and a PCB and a CPU;
FIG. 2 is a partially cross-sectional view of the socket connector
taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1 wherein terminals are removed;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a terminal in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the socket connector, the PCB
and the CPU disengaged from each other;
FIG. 5 is a fully assembled view of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional socket connector and
a PCB and a CPU;
FIG. 7 an enlarged top view of terminal slots of the socket
connector of FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 an enlarged view of a terminal in FIG. 6;
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the conventional socket
connector, the PCB and the CPU, wherein the terminals are not
compressed by the PCB and the CPU; and
FIG. 10 is a view similar to FIG. 9 except that the terminals are
compressed by the PCB and the CPU.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe the
present invention in detail.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a socket connector 1 of the present
invention is used for electrically connecting a CPU 2 to a PCB 3.
The socket connector 1 includes an insulative housing 10 and a
plurality of terminals 11 received in the insulative housing 10.
The insulative housing 10 has a mounting surface 101 close to the
PCB 3 and an opposite mating surface 102 close to the CPU 2. The
insulative housing 10 has two pairs of opposite outer flanges 103
around the mating surface 102, and a first and a second resilient
contact arms 1031, 1032 at two adjacent ones of the outer flanges
103 for positioning the CPU 2. A plurality of terminal slots 104
are angularly defined between the mating surface 102 and the
mounting surface 101 for receiving the respective terminals 11. In
addition, the insulative housing 10 defines a plurality of slant
position slots 105 communicating with the respective terminal slots
104 for retaining the terminals 11 at true position.
Referring to FIG. 3, each of the terminals 11 includes a retention
portion 111, and a substantially horizontal soldering portion 112
extending from a bottom end of the retention portion 111 and a
mating portion 113 extending from a top end of the retention
portion 111. The retention portion 111 forms a plurality of barbs
1111 at two lateral sides thereof. The mating portion 113 is
received in a corresponding one of the terminal slots 104 and
includes a spring arm 1131 and a contacting portion 1132 at a free
end of the spring arm 1131. It is clearly shown in FIG. 3 that the
contacting portion 1132 is much farther from the retention portion
111 than the soldering portion 112 is so that the spring arm 1131
is relatively long, therefore, the spring arm 1131 is much
flexible.
Further, referring to FIG. 4, the CPU 2 and the PCB 3 are located
at two opposite sides of the socket connector 1, respectively. The
retention portion 111 is received in the position slot 105 with the
barbs 1111 engaging with the insulative housing 10 to securely
retain the terminal 11 in the insulative housing 10. The soldering
portion 112 of the terminal 11 extends beyond the mounting surface
101 and is soldered to the PCB 3 by a solder ball 4 attached to a
bottom surface 1121 of the soldering portion 112. The contacting
portion 1132 extends beyond the mating surface 102 of the
insulative housing 10 for mating with a corresponding contacting
pad 21 of the CPU 2. It is clearly shown in FIG. 5 that the
terminals 11 are obliquely received in the respective terminal
slots 104 such that the contacting portion 1132 offsets a
predetermined distance from the soldering portion 112.
Referring to FIG. 5, as the CPU 2 is pressed downwardly, the spring
arm 1131 of the terminal 11 deforms resiliently for an external
force exerted by the CPU 2. The contacting portion 1132 of the
terminal 11 securely presses against a corresponding contacting pad
21 of the CPU 2 due to the restoring resilient force of the spring
arm 1131. Therefore, an electrical connection is established
between the CPU 2 and the PCB 3. Meanwhile, the contacting portion
1132 of the terminal 11 is exposed out of the terminal slot 104 and
abuts against the mating surface 102 of the insulative housing
10.
In the present invention, because the terminals 11 are obliquely
received in the slant terminal slots 104 of the insulative housing
10, the terminal 11 may be longer than the conventional terminal.
In addition, as the mounting section 111 is arranged close to the
mating portion 112, the spring arm 1131 is longer than the
conventional terminal 4. Therefore, resiliency of the terminal 11
is improved.
It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous
characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been
set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of
the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is
illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in
matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the
principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the
broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are
expressed.
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